Action Bronson Free Show at NXNE Cancelled

purfekstorm.com

Toronto-based music festival, NXNE (North by Northeast), has announced that they will be canceling Action Bronson’s show at the concert this year. The Queens-based rapper, who was supposed to perform at Yonge-Dundas Square on June 21st, came under fire when a woman named Erica Shiner launched a Change.org campaign to cancel the rapper’s show. She claimed the rapper promotes raping and murdering women, directing attention towards his song “Consensual Rape”, and the video for his song “Brunch” which features a women’s corpse in it for comedic effect.

While NXNE previously defended the rapper, and encouraged concert goers to go to other shows if his music offended them, the show’s directors have now released a statement. The statement clarifies that in NXNE’s 20-year history with the city of Toronto, they have always tried to maintain a beneficial relationship with the people of the city, and that they have prided themselves on allowing free shows in Yonge-Dundas Square for the last decade. Therefore, they felt it was necessary to remove Action Bronson as a free act this year, due to a number of their annual guests vocalizing a disdain for him being there.

The statement goes on to say that they do hope Action Bronson will still perform at NXNE this year, and they have invited him to play another ticketed venue in the city. The statement even expresses that the directors were big fans of Action Bronson’s laterst record, Mr. Wonderful, and they hope that this decision to cancel his show doesn’t hamper the dynamic nature of the space. Yonge-Dundas Square is known for being a hot spot for culture in Toronto, as well as a regular location for political events.

Bronson has yet to comment on this turn of events. While the rapper’s lyrics have always been raunchy and occasionally degrading towards women, this is the first case of there being a publicized outcry towards his music. It’s actually reminiscent of the controversy Eminem faced in his earlier days as a successful recording artist. It’s unlikely that this will make Action Bronson re-consider his on-stage rap persona, but it remains to be seen if other music venues may follow through and try to bar him.